Recreational cannabis sales begin in California, Humboldt County

EcoCann Dispensary owner Jeff Poel stands with his sales consultants Amanda Arrington and Kayla Wendlandt during the opening minutes of business. EcoCann Dispensary, located on the 300 block of F Street in Eureka, was the town’s first medicinal and recreational cannabis storefront, opening a high noon on New Year’s Day in Old Town. A sustained line around the corner and halfway down the Third Street block waited patiently for purchasing the newly legalized marijuana.
José Quezada — For the Times-Standard

Laura Montagna gives a quick smile as the EcoCann door is opened by doorman Troy McCornack. Montagna was the first customer of the newly opened dispensary.
José Quezada — For the Times-Standard

The first person to buy recreational cannabis in Humboldt County during Monday’s statewide marijuana market opener said she doesn’t use marijuana, but couldn’t pass up the chance to make history.

After purchasing a gram of AK-47 on Monday afternoon from the EcoCann Dispensary in Eureka — and taking a selfie to prove it — Laura Montagna of Arcata said she thought it would be a cool story to experience the end of cannabis prohibition, at least at the state level.

“I used to be against it and now I’m not. I think it does help people,” Montagna said. “I just think back to Prohibition where people couldn’t drink alcohol and then they could. It feels kind of like that. Finally everyone smokes it or so many people do, maybe this will just make things happier.”

Montagna showed up two hours early outside of EcoCann dispensary in Eureka to claim her spot in line. Less than 15 minutes after the dispensary opened its doors at noon, a line of more than 60 customers wrapped around Third Street. Some were celebrating early by lighting joints or playing music while others were in conversation. One woman used the opportunity to set up a vending booth with some artwork for sale.

Among the prospective customers was Vallejo resident and Humboldt State University alumni Ben Elvis, 38, who said he was in town with his wife and children for the weekend to spend some time in the redwoods. Elvis said was looking to purchase a sativa and to be a part of history.

“We’re going to go to the beach right now. We thought it’d be a good way to expand our horizons a little bit,” Elvis said.

Others in line expressed a similar desire to be a part of history. One man who wished to remain unnamed said he was there to be “stickin’ it to Sessions,” referring to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has been a longstanding opposer to legalized cannabis.

Inside the dispensary

Just 30 minutes before Montagna’s purchase, the staff in the EcoCann dispensary were bustling about and making final preparations. Glass display cases showed large buds packaged in glass jars, sealed plastic pouches, rows of pre-rolled joint packages, gummies, cannabis teas, and other edibles.

EcoCann manager Ray Markland, 26, was giving instructions to one employee telling him to let 10 people in at a time and to check their IDs to make sure they are 21 years old — the legal age to buy recreational cannabis.

A menu screen listed 20 strains such as “Kona Kush” and “Wedding Cake” with prices ranging from the $9 a gram to $420 per ounce depending on the strain. The prices included the 15 percent excise tax the state has placed on cannabis sales.

The dispensary located on the corner of F and Third streets was the first in Humboldt County and one of about 100 in the entire state to be licensed by the state’s Bureau of Cannabis Control to sell recreational marijuana.

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EcoCann’s owner Jeff Poel, 58, said he began using cannabis in 2014 after a surfing injury and subsequent neck surgery left him bedridden for about a year. He said he used medical cannabis to help with pain relief rather than continue on a prescription for Percocet.

“For me, it’s not so much about this dispensary, our permit and our little victory,” he said. “For me, it’s about finally this awakening by the state of California, the most populous state in the nation, that this product is safer than alcohol, tobacco and many other drugs on the market for pain relief.”

Formerly an environmental scientist working on Hazmat compliance for county governments, Poel said he got the idea to open a dispensary when he was using a vaporizer pen and watching an episode of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” with Markland. Poel said Markland had brought up the idea after the Eureka City Council approved a request for proposals for medical cannabis dispensaries.

EcoCann Dispensary opened as a medical dispensary in September, but the recreational market is upping demand.

Reached halfway through their first day of business, Poel said they sold as much cannabis in half a day as they used to in a half a week.

Entering the market

EcoCann won’t be the only recreational dispensary in Humboldt County for long. Arcata’s longstanding medical cannabis dispensary, The Humboldt Patient Resource Center, recently gained approval from the city of Arcata to sell recreational cannabis and has submitted its application to obtain a state license. However, the center’s General Manager Bryan Willkomm said Monday that they are still waiting on the state to process it.

Unlike EcoCann, the nearly 19-year-old Humboldt Patient Resource Center is working to obtain a microbusiness permit so that it can cultivate, process, distribute and sell both medical and recreational cannabis.

Willkomm said they had to turn away about 100 people on Monday because they are not allowed to operate without a state license, and instead directed them to EcoCann.

“We want people to celebrate this transition,” Willkomm said. “We want people to realize the progress in the laws. We look forward to participating in the industry we helped develop.”

As they await their license, Willkomm said they are working to finalize the plans for expanding their retail location as well as setting up phone and online ordering systems. Having been a medical cannabis dispensary for 18 years, the center is also ensuring that certain products such as more rare CBD tinctures — which do not include cannabis’ psychoactive compound THC — are reserved for medical patients, Willkomm said.

“We still have a great collection of CBD products for adult users, but the concerns are well warranted in the medical community,” he said.

Other changes Willkomm said they are having to make include charging customers for new opaque, childproof bags that all cannabis products must be placed into before they are given to customers as is required under state law. Willkomm said the bags will be free during the first week of sales, but will cost about $2 afterwards.

Industry expansion

Don’t expect to be able to purchase cannabis from every area of the county or state. The state’s cannabis laws allow local governments to completely ban recreational and medical cannabis businesses, though they are not allowed to completely ban personal grows of up to six plants.

The cities of Fortuna, Ferndale, Blue Lake and Trinidad have banned cannabis businesses, with Rio Dell limiting cannabis businesses to a business park.

Meanwhile, Humboldt County is seeking to expand its cannabis industry in the unincorporated area through new rules that will allow for larger cultivation and new types of businesses that it hopes will attract tourism, such as bud-and-breakfasts and farm tours. These expanded rules are expected to go before the county Board of Supervisors in February.

Many experts had expressed doubts that California would hit the Monday deadline to get regulations and permits in place so that sales could start. But the Bureau of Cannabis Control managed to release emergency regulations for the industry in November and start issuing temporary licenses in mid-December that would kick in on New Year’s Day.

As of Sunday night, the bureau had issued more than 100 licenses to shops and microbusinesses that were ready to sell recreational marijuana when stores were allowed to open as early as 6 a.m. Monday, per state law.

Stores were anxious to claim boasting rights for selling California’s first legal gram of recreational marijuana. But even though all cannabis in the state now must be tracked from seed to sale, Alex Traverso with the cannabis bureau said the sales data isn’t real time, so they wouldn’t be able to say which shop processed the first transaction.

The Cannifornian contributed to this report. Will Houston can be reached at 707-441-0504.